Simple as that
by Renea
Summary: The next day, they would escort the representative back to Kumogakure, and then return to Konoha, simple as that. [Little bit of LeeOC XD]
1. Substitute

Hi! umm... yeah n.n;; Me again. Soo... another little fic set after an RP between me and a friend of mine ( so, the two people named Akako and Orenji belong to her :3) yeah! So... anyways XD I hope you enjoy it n.n

It's so hard to write for Gai XDDDD For some reason... I really hope I didn't make him too out of character XD same goes for Neji.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all it's characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Akako and Orenji: My friend Jay

Shizuka: er... me ;

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Hyuuga Neji sighed as he approached his teammate's front door. His plan was simple: Go to Tenten's house. Check on Tenten. Relay the information to the others. But no. Lee just had to show up on his own, didn't he?

"Neji Kun!" The fourteen year old, spandex-clad, genin said, smiling.

Neji didn't share his enthusiasm."How is she?" He replied flatly.

"I have not even rang the doorbell yet..."

Neji gave a halfhearted sigh, before stepping past his teammate, and ringing the doorbell himself.

Tenten had been acting strangely the previous day, off her game, distracted. She'd even missed a few targets, which was highly unusual. She'd passed out a few hours after they'd started training, which had worried them. It wasn't uncommon for people to pass out on their training field, by any means... But ninety-nine percent of the time, that person was **_Lee_**, never Tenten. She'd had a high fever, and Gai'd had to take her to the hospital. She'd been able to go home soon after, but neither had been able to see if she was alright since then.

The door opened, and a woman they recognized as Tenten's mother answered. "Oh... hello there!" She answered, smiling. "You're here about Tenten, I assume?" The boys nodded, and she continued, "Well... She's sleeping, and the doctors say she's contagious... So, I'm afraid you can't come visit." Lee's face fell. "Tenten's caught that flu bug that's been going around, it seems. Apparently, a lot of people are getting sick from it. But it clears up in about a week, so she should be fine, given that she rests." She assured. "I'll tell her you came by."

Neji nodded. "I see... Thank you for your time." He said politely, turning and starting down the street, Lee catching up a moment later. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Lee blinked. "No, I do not..."

"We won't be able to do any missions for a week." Lee looked disappointed again, so Neji simply quickened his pace, heading for their practice area. "Come on. Let's get to the training field... Before we're late and Gai Sensei makes us run laps."

"But Neji kun, I **_love _**laps..."

- - - - - - - - -

"Yosh! Is this not invigorating, Neji kun?" Lee exclaimed joyously, as they ran lap number one hundred eighty seven around the track, as they'd been instructed to do until Gai returned from some errand he had needed to attend to.

"I... Really... Hate you...Right now.." Neji managed between pants and gasps. The Hyuuga genin then spied something approaching the track. Something very green. _Thank god! _Neji thought, relieved, as his sensei returned.

"Alright!" Gai said loudly, when he had reached his students, who had stopped running. "I have good news...Today... We will need to train extra hard... to prepare for the mission we have been assigned! It's only a C ranked mission... But an important one!"

Neji raised an eyebrow. "You've found someone willing to substitute for Tenten, Gai Sensei?"

He nodded quickly. "That flu bug that got Tenten... Some other genin have caught it too. And someone else on one of those people's teams...well... As I understand it, a pizza delivery boy rang their doorbell, and now they're missing a wall from their kitchen, and have gone camping for the next few weeks...Or something. Anyways! The remaining student has agreed to join out youthful team so that we can complete this mission!"

"**Who?**" Neji asked skeptically, desperately trying to convince himself that he indeed did **not** want to ask about the doorbell story.

Gai blinked at him for a moment, before looking down on either side of him. "Hey, where'd you go...?" He asked no one in particular, as he twisted around to look behind himself. "Ah, there you are!" The small, timid looking kunoichi he had just temporarily misplaced stepped out from behind him hesitantly.

"Shizuka San!" Lee said happily.

Gai smiled. He had hoped that this would go over well, with Lee anyways. Shizuka and Lee were already acquainted. It was hard to tell what Neji thought of her.

"Hi," She said, waving a little, and smiling shyly.

"Yosh!" Gai continued, enthusiastically, as his team sat down, waiting to hear a description of the mission. Shizuka took a seat next to Lee, and Gai went on to explain. Their mission was to escort a representative from the village hidden in the clouds, that had been in konoha to try restore peace between the two villages, back to the land of thunder. Neji's eyes had narrowed significantly at this, but Gai had assured him that precautions had been taken. Leaf nin had brought him to the village, and leaf nin would take him back. The representative, not even a shinobi himself, was alone, so there was very little possibility of a double crossing. Unlike the last time they had attempted negotiations with leaf.

The next day, they would escort the representative back to Kumogakure, and then return to Konoha, simple as that.

Upon finishing his explanation of the mission, Gai proceeded to follow up with his infamous nice guy pose. "Yosh!" He exclaimed, joyously. "Now! We, of course, should ensure that we're all in tip top condition for the mission tomorrow! Everybody, back to the track!"

Amidst Lee's cheerful cries, a barely audible groan was heard from the Hyuuga.

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So... there's chapter one! Sorry if it's crappy n.n;; anyways, thank you very much for reasing, and please review. Have a nice day:D 


	2. First impression

Hello again! n.n .. umm... yeah XDD same old thing, I guess. I apologize for all teh cheesyness that is to follow DX anyways... alot of stuff that would have happened during the RP is mentionned... so... sorry if if doesn;t make all that much sense n.n;;

Disclaimer

Naruto: Masashi Kishimoto

Akako and Orenji: My friend Jay :3

Shizuka and Minako: me n.n;;;

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_

_The redhead smiled, ponytail bobbing happily as she walked, winding and unwinding a bit of trap wire around her finger compulsively. "See? THIS is what I'm talking about! Chunin exams, now THAT'S some serious excitement."_

_The orange haired boy on their team, aptly named Orenji, nodded his agreement. The third team member, did the same after a moment's wavering, smiling sheepishly, pushing purple bangs from her face. "Yes... it should be... Akako? We'll do alright, right?"_

_"Alright!?" Akako said, in her usual aggressive, enthusiastic manner. "We're going to kick-" She stopped abruptly, eyes wide, staring over the staircase railing at the floor below, jaw handing open. "What the **hell?!**"_

_The purple haired one turned to see what had shocked her friend, while still continuing to take the step she had been in the middle of. She found that there was no ground under her foot, and only had time to let out a surprised gasp, as she realised she had- quite stupidly- overreached the first step by a large amount, and was now falling down the staircase._

_Training took over, and in the split second before her face connected with the concrete steps, she found herself tucked into a ball to protect her head, as she picked up speed, tumbling down the painful cement incline. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was almost completely unprepared as she finally hit the floor below, rolling several times before landing flat on her back, knocking the wind out of herself._

_She felt her head spinning, and hesitantly slid one eye open, revealing a spinning ceiling, and some blurry red mass above her. She squeezed her eyes shut, then open again, and slowly the blurry shape became clearer. A turtle. A huge red and yellow turtle was staring at her undividedly. She blinked, still reeling from the fall. "H...Hello Mr. Turtle...Am I dead?"_

_She froze, as something that could not possibly be human, and would have to have been standing on the turtle's back, poked it's head over the side of the amphibian, looking down at her. It grinned, making an odd gesture with one hand that she couldn't make out from where she was._

_Without thinking, she squeaked, and scrambled to her feet, only to back into something. She tensed, as she felt a hand on her upper arm, straining her neck to see. She pulled away, letting out another small cry. Dear god, **another** one._

_She turned to face the two alien-like beings, arms hugging herself nervously, breathing panicked. After a short inspection, she deemed that they **were** in face, human. They were almost identical, apart from size, and the smaller one's rounder eyes, and bandaged hands. The adult, who wore a jonin's vest, was giving her a strange look, remarkably thick eyebrow raised. The younger, who was probably her own ages's face showed only concern. It was that one that she had bumped into. "Are you alright?" He asked, cautiously. "Did you hit your head just then?" She wished she had that as an excuse for her skittishness, but unfortunately it wasn't. She shook her head._

_"N-no... I'm alright, thank you..."_

_"You are sure you are not hurt?"_

_"I..." She inclined her head slightly, slightly perplexed by his odd way of speaking. "No... I...was just startled... I'm sorry..."_

_He nodded firmly, smiling. "There is no reason to be sorry! I am simply relieved that you are alright...um..."_

_"Oh..." She tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear, nervously. Generally speaking, she was afraid of new people. "Shizuka. My name is Shizuka."_

_"It is a pleasure to meet you, Shizuka San." The boy replied, with unusual politeness. "My name is Rock Lee." He turned to indicate the turtle-man who's fashion taste and haircut he seemed to emulate. "And this is Gai Sensei." He added proudly. "Oh! And Ninkame."_

_"It's very nice to meet you." She replied, smiling a little, trying to courteously acknowledge the Jonin, and to her confusion, his turtle. The jonin she now knew as Gai gave another of the smiles that had scared her earlier, and repeated the hand movement, which she now recognized as a thumbs up._

_Leaning on the half- wall next to the stairs, Akako watched the odd scene play out below. She threw Orenji a half-amused smile. "Should we save her from the weirdo?" He shook his head. "Yeah," She continued. "This is way too fun to watch."_

_"What are you guys watching?"_

_"Hey, Minako Sensei," She replied, recognizing the brown haired Jonin's voice. "I'm not sure. A couple of basket cases down there have Shizuka."_

_"Wait, like, what?" Minako leaned over the railing, before smacking herself in the forehead. "Yikes! Leave it to Shizuka to get stuck in a conversation with that loony, Gai..." She hopped over the concrete half- wall, and literally hit the ground running, the drop meaning very little for a jonin. "Ara! Shizuka, there you are!" She said, much, much too slowly. "Come on... you guys have to be getting to the exam..." She maintained the same lethargic tone, as she led Shizuka away from Lee and his teacher. "Don't you guys have some laps to be running or something?"_

_"That's right!" Gai said, suddenly. "Lee, you still have those laps to run! And we have even less time before the exam! Double time, Lee! Run! Run with the power of youth!"_

_"Yosh!" The boy exclaimed loudly, before running for the exit, his sensei close behind. Lee turned, waving for a moment before leaving the room. "Goodbye, Shiuzka San!"_

_By the time it occurred to the shocked little Kunoichi to was back, he was already gone._

_"Come on, Guys. I was serious about that exam thing. You're all like, going to be late or something." Minako had resumed her usual speaking tempo._

_"Sensei?" Shizuka jumped ahead a few steps to catch up with her teacher, who had began to stride quickly towards the exit, and her teammates who were following. "Why were you speaking so slowly just then?"_

_"Well," Minako tapped her forehead. "You have to like, speak really, reaaally slowly around Gai, Shizuka. I don't think he's all there, if you know what I mean."_

_"Oh..."_

_"You're one to talk..." Akako muttered under her breath._

_"What?"_

_"Oh, nothing Sensei."_

_Somewhere, sprinting down one of Konoha's streets as fast as he could manage- He DID have an exam to get to- Lee looked over at his sensei, who ran next to him. "Gai Sensei? Why was that other jonin speaking so strangely?"_

_Gai sighed. "Minako is a little... **Slow**, Lee. The poor thing..."_

- - - - - - -

Gai leaned against one of the benches near the running track, watching the three running as he has asked them to. He didn't turn around, hearing someone's footsteps behind him.

"Oi,."

"Hey, Minako."

"I just came to like, see how she was doing, and all. You won't have any trouble with her. She's a good kid."

The other jonin nodded. "From what I've seen, she is."

"I'm actually surprised, that you'd like, want to borrow Shizuka, anyways. Given your team's specialty. And Shizuka's weaknesses."

"Overall, what are her abilities like, anyways?"

"Well," Minako started, taking a seat on the bench. "Outside of combat, her main talent is tracking, hands down. Other than that... Her main strengths are speed and accuracy. Her endurance is shaky, though, she's fast, but she burns out pretty quickly. Genjutsu's average, Ninjutsu'd be her other strong point, I'd say, but..." she slumped over a little sighing. "Then we have her like...totally non existent strength, and Taijutsu ability."

Gai nodded. "That's what lost her that match in the third exam. She might have actually won that one if she'd been better at physical attacks."

Minako shrugged. "Possibly. But she her opponent had her matched for speed, that's for sure. She'd probably lost eventually anyways."

Gai and Lee had arrived at the exam near the end of Shizuka's match, and Gai had seen enough to get a good understanding of her strategy. The kunoichi's main form of attack were senbon, and the idea seemed to be in moving constantly, making herself less of a target. Not to mention that the momentum she built up helped to compensate for her physical weakness.

Shizuka's mother, Murasaki Leiko, one of the ANBU on duty during the exam, had been stationed nearby where they were watching. She had observed the fight with an odd indifference, stating that she had trained shizuka that way, because it would be 'a waste of time' teaching her to block attacks. Instead, she had decided to focus on making her harder to hit to begin with. Unfortunately, this meant that if ever she was facing someone who could actually catch up to her, and be too close for throwing needles, she'd have no way to defend herself. This exact situation presented itself during the third exam, as her opponent proved to be as fast as she was.

She'd been caught in a hold that, though basic for anyone with good taijutsu ability, proved to be too much for the kunoichi, and had rendered her totally helpless. Her opponent had finished it with a kunai to the stomach. Suffice to say, Shizuka lost.

Leiko, rather than being concerned, had simply made a dry comment about how long it would take her daughter to bleed to death, which had almost happened, before they could get her to the hospital.

She'd recovered, and gotten back to her old self quickly, but since they couldn't risk her eating anything, for fear of her stomach opening up again, she'd had to stay a week more then she'd have had to normally, attached to an IV to keep her body from starving.

Shizuka had visited Lee once after the preliminaries, and since by then he was up and about (on his crutches, but nevertheless) and had returned the favour. It had quickly become a routine, and later, once they'd let him go home (prior to his surgery) he'd made a habit of visiting her to, or from his rehabilitation sessions.

Gai frowned. "Is she still living with you?"

Minako nodded, sighing. "Yeah, Akako's parents won't take her. It's not that I mind, really. I dunno, it's just kinda weird having a thirteen year old hanging around all the time, you know?"

Gai, in fact, **_didn't _**know what she was talking about. What was weird about... how had she said it? 'having a thirteen year old hanging around all the time?' Anyways. It was generally known amongst the Konoha jonin that at some point between her hospitalization and release, Leiko had disowned Shizuka entirely, for reasons she kept to herself.

"It's not that she can't look after herself." Minako continued. "She just doesn't have anywhere else to live, you know?"

Gai nodded again, watching the genin completing circuits of the track, still. "She's still a rookie, though." Minako got to her feet. "Take that into account, will you?"

"Don't worry. It's a simple mission, everything should go fine. " He assured, striking his well known nice guy pose, much to Minako's embarrassment. " I'll do all I can to assure the safety of your student, as though she were one of my own!"

"Right..." she muttered, eyebrow raised, before turning to leave, stopping momentarily. "Oh, and Gai?" He inclined his head to indicate that he was, in fact, listening. "If you teach my student anything that could kill her? I'll, like... tear you a new one, I swear." Her face lost the seriousness it had a moment earlier, as she put a finger to her lips, thinking. "Though, I'm not entierly sure what that means... I've heard Akako use that expression... well, it's a threat, that's what matters."

"I don't plan to." Gai smiled, the threat going right over his head. "And I don't know what it measn either."

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Anyways... er... yeah XD that sucked. But! thank you so much for reading this! Please review ( It makes Ren very happy n.n :D ) and have a nice day:3 


	3. Practice

Chapter three! XDDD no one's reading this, are they? XDD oh well. again, I apologize for any OOC ness DX

Naruto: Masashi Kishimoto

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Leaning against a tree on the far side of the training ground, Gai surveyed his charges practising. Neji was off to one side, going though the quick, controlled, movements of the Juuken style, Lee was farther off, kicking away happily, as he did so often, counting aloud, and Shizuka occupied the set of targets usually monopolized by Tenten.

Gai looked from Lee's log kicking, back to Shizuka's target practice, then back to his own student again. "What if I...?"Eyes closed, he reflected on his conversation with Minako earlier.

"Lee," His voice was strong enough to carry over to the other side of the training field, and catch the boy's attention. "Shizuka," The green-wearing genin, and the little Kunoichi, darted to the teacher, after he waved them over.

"Yes sir?" Came the immediate reply, from Lee, Shizuka looking up with silent puzzlement.

"Lee, take Shizuka, and run her every release technique you can think of."

"The holds too, Sensei?"

"No, Lee, just how to get out of them,"

As the conversation continued, Shizuka could only look from one to the other, completely lost. It was though they were speaking a different language entirely, and Shizuka was left without a Taijutsu-jargon translator.

She didn't even realise when the conversation had ended, and Lee was left waiting for along moment, before she realised that he was trying to lead her over to an open spot on the training area. "Alright," He said, nodding, as though in thought. "It would be best to start with something simple. Shizuka San, please hold out your hand."

She hesitantly did as he asked, extending her right arm. Standing directly in front of her, he reached out with his left, and gripped her wrist tightly. His grip proved to be painfully tight, and Shizuka winced, his hold lessening instantly. "I'm sorry!" Lee replied quickly. "Shizuka San, if I ever hurt you, please tell me, I will stop." He grinned, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sensei says I do not always know my own strength."

She gave a small smile, eyes on the flattened grass below them. "I can imagine how that might happen."

Lee nodded, before his smile became less carefree and more encouraging again. "Now, try and get out of this."

"What?"

"Try and get your arm free."

She made a face, biting her lip. "O..okay...I'll try..." Shizuka tried to yank her arm back, away from him, but his grip was totally unaffected. Instead, she tried backing up, but Lee simply widened his stance, and stayed in place, so she resumed frantically trying to jerk her hand free. "Shizuka San, you will never get out of it **_that_** way." She sighed, when after a long while, she had still made no progress, and hesitantly looked up at her temporary instructor.

To her surprise, as opposed to anger, or disappointment. Just confusion. "Shizuka San? Did no one ever teach you this?" She shook her head, and he nodded, letting go, and holding out his own wrist. "Here."

Shizuka looked at him nervously for a moment, before closing her hand around his outstretched arm. "As tightly as you can, Shizuka San...good... now, like **_this_**..." In one quick movement, he rotated his wrist a bit in her hold, and with a simple move of his arm, his wrist slipped free. The kunoichi blinked in astonishment, before sighing again. "Do you know why that worked, Shizuka San?"

"Because you're strong and I'm not?" She asked, dejectedly.

He shook his head. "Not at all. You see..." He took her wrist in his hand again, closing it loosely. "Look at this." Once he was sure she was watching he moved his fingers, indicating the gap between them and the thumb. "I am unable to hold on here nearly as tightly. So, instead of pulling back, if you turn like this..." He moved her wrist with his free hand. "And pull out this way..." After a small tug from his other hand, she stepped back, and got the idea to pull away from the weak spot he had pointed out, and her wrist came free. "Very good!" Lee smiled. "But, for next time, do not move back like that. Only your arm. Otherwise, you lose a lot of power, leaving your arm behind that way."

Shizuka, who had almost fallen over when her arm had unexpectedly come free, nodded, as what he was saying sank in.

"Try again." He prompted, reaching for her wrist again, with one bandaged hand. Lee had to talk her through it the second time, and she made more mistakes the third. On her fourth try, not even Lee could understand out what she was doing wrong, only that there was something. But eventually, she did get it down, and Lee moved on to a slightly more complicated one, which took even more time.

Shizuka proved to be a painfully slow learner, and, had Lee not had the unearthly patience and determination he possessed, he'd have become frustrated enough to give up very soon. But Lee, being Lee, persisted. By the time he moved on to number three, the sun had began to set, and Neji had gone home. Number four had been interesting, as Shizuka had let out surprised yelp when Lee had wrapped his arms around her. He had apologized, and promised to giver her a better warning the next time.

The sun had set completely when she had gotten that one down. Lee was about to suggest that they review the a few times, before calling it a day, but he stopped. "Shizuka San? Would you like to try to learn one more?" She nodded, happily, having grown a bit less nervous as the practice session had wore on.

He slipped one arm behind her back, pinning both of her arms, awaiting her reaction. This might have been a bad idea.

Shizuka bit her lip. This one, she recognized. It had cost her almost two weeks in Konoha general hospital, and her match during the third exam.

This one had taken to longest to teach, and he could assume why there would be a mental block attached to this particular technique, but finally, after countless tries where she'd moved the wrong arm, or the wrong way, she finally slipped free, a smile on her face.

After a few more tries, where she consistently escaped, he ran through the other four again. Shizuka, it seemed, took a while to learn things. But once she had gotten it, she **_had _**it, as each review attempt had been successful.

"I think that's good, for today!" Gai, who had been watching, exclaimed. It was completely dark by now, and even Lee had to admit that it was time to go home. "Now! Get lots of sleep tonight, to refuel your youthful bodies, do you can do your best on the mission tomorrow!"

"Shizuka San? It is awfully dark out. Would you like me to walk you home?"

She started, smiling, but seemed to stop herself before saying anything. "Lee, that's very nice of you but... um... I just remembered! I have to pick something up. For mother, on the way home..." She nodded, confirming the story more to herself than anyone else. "So... I really have to be going!" She said hurriedly, backing away. "Thank you very much for offering... and for helping me so much today... but..." She stopped, eyes downcast, before turning, and breaking into a run. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lee Kun. Goodnight!"

Lee looked to his teacher, as though he could shed some light on Shizuka's sudden strange behavior. "Sensei? I though that Shizuka lived the **_other_** way..."

Gai didn't say a word.

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I'm not sure if that ending made sense XDD but like, if you didn't... er... think back to Shizuka's living situation in the last chapter. n.n;;; anyways! Please review! Reviews make Ren very happy:3 and have a nice day :D


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